Zohran Mamdani and Ms. Rachel "Wah Wah Wah"

Submission 7,780

Part of a series on Reaction Images. [View Related Entries]

About

Zohran Mamdani and Ms. Rachel "Wah Wah Wah," also known as Zohran Mamdani and Ms. Rachel Crying or Zohran Mamdani and Ms. Rachel Whining, refers to a viral video and reaction meme of children's content creator Ms. Rachel singing "Wheels on the Bus" with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The video was published on January 9th, 2026, days after Mamdani announced universal child care for 2-year-old children. The clip of Mamdani and Ms. Rachel doing an exaggerated mock-cry and singing, "wah, wah, wah," went viral over the following days as a reaction image and GIF, with many going viral by claiming they would get a lot of use out of the clip. As a reaction, the meme is used to shed fake tears for someone regarding a complaint.

Origin

On January 9th, 2026, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani spent the morning at a pre-kindergarten class in Lower Manhattan with children's content creator and YouTuber Ms. Rachel. This came only days after Mamdani announced universal child care for every 2-year-old.^[1] Notably, Ms. Rachel is part of Mamdani's inaugural committee.^[2]

That day, the NY1 YouTube^[3] channel published a video of Mamdani and Ms. Rachel's visit to the pre-kindergarten class. At the start of the video, the two sing the children's song "Wheels on the Bus" with the kids. The video gained over 46,000 views in four days.

Spread

The clip of Mamdani and Ms. Rachel went viral on the day it was released. For example, on January 9th, 2026, X^[4] / Twitter user @ParkerMolloy posted the clip of them singing "Wheels On the Bus," writing, "Palate cleanser, feat. Ms. Rachel and the mayor," garnering over 18,000 likes and 1,700 reposts in four days.

That day, the same X^[5] user commented on their own post with a short clip of Mamdani and Ms. Rachel pretending to cry while singing the song, writing, "I feel like this video clip/GIF will get a lot of use," garnering over 42,000 likes in four days.

Later that day, Bluesky^[6] user Sanho posted a screenshot of Mamdani and Ms. Rachel crying, writing, "And a meme was born. Cry harder, fascists!" gaining about 680 likes in four days.

Shortly after, Threads^[7] user pearlmania500 posted the screenshot, writing, "I am going to get so much use out of this," garnering over 34,000 likes in four days.

On January 10th, 2026, X^[8] user @MurdoinkGS posted a green screen edit of Ms. Rachel and Mamdani crying, garnering over 17,000 likes and 920 reposts in three days.

On January 11th, X^[9] user @BlueRepublik quoted the post, writing, "Have a suspicion this is going to come in handy when it finally happens," garnering over 112,000 likes and 4,300 reposts in two days.

Later that day, X^[10] user @randomrecruiter posted the clip of the two singing "Wheels On the Bus" under the caption, "HR right after they lay you off," garnering over 1,400 likes in two days.

That night, Threads^[11] user @rencaz94 posted the meme under the caption, "Am I The Asshole: if I comment this on all my conservative family’s political FB posts from now on?" garnering over 5,700 likes and 160 comments in two days.

On January 12th, 2026, X^[12] user @RedWave_Press posted a clip from a Fox News segment of conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren criticizing the clip of Mamdani and Ms. Rachel, garnering over 5,900 likes and 1.1 million views in a day.

In the clip, Lahren and conservative pundit Guy Benson criticize Ms. Rachel for her support for Palestine, claim she is antisemitic and call her out for being, in their opinions, annoying and creepy.